Kay Howard - Personal Life

Personal Life

In her personal life, she valued privacy and the idea that having secrets had value, but was less consistent on this in the first two seasons. She did keep an adulterous relationship she had with a Lt. Jimmy Tyron, one that predated her joining Homicide, secret at first but later admitted it to Frank Pembleton as an investigation of Pembleton's concerned Tyron. Tyron would later be arrested for shooting C. C. Cox in the back while fleeing. However she later admitted to Pembleton her sexual involvement with Ed Danvers without much pressing and even commented on Danvers's "prowess" (although she indicated to Pembleton that she might have been kidding). Aside from the sex, and their shared desire to bring criminals to justice, she had little similarity to Danvers so the relationship ended at an unspecified point in the third season of the show. After this relationship she became far more reticent about personal matters to avoid being the subject of office gossip.

It was implied in the fourth season that her love of privacy, combined with her tough nature and masculine clothing, had led to some speculation that she might be a lesbian; upon seeing Kay with a mystery date, Det John Munch said as much, although this may have just been a tactic to get her to tell him who the man is. The DVD commentaries for the show reveal that the producers were aware that the character was extremely popular in the LGBT community.

Although she is generally "one of the team" her being female was occasionally remarked upon at the squad. The crime scene photographer J. H. Brodie expressed his infatuation with her, but due to a miscommunication she felt his expression of affection was a way to make fun of her. Det. Mike Kellerman also stated she was attractive "because of the hair." In certain episodes she expressed concern about her sister and gender issues. In general she disliked both being deemed masculine and being treated "like a lady."